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Monday, June 27, 2005

Shark Attack

Here in Florida, we have more than our share of sharks. Although attacks are rare, they happen. On Saturday, a shark attacked and killed a 14 year old girl in Tallahassee (which is a far distance from the Tampa Bay Area). Having grown up swimming here (and having children) this is a very unsettling report.

I spent a great deal of time at the beach with my grandparents as a kid, and I remember one day when my grandfather and I had swum out to the sandbar. I was feeling very grown up, having swum as far as I had. My grandpa was a great, tall man and I always felt safe with him. We were talking and walking along the sandbar, when he suddenly told me to climb up on his shoulders.

When I got up there, he said a lemon shark had just passed us by. Needless to say, it didn't touch us (I hadn't taken the threat seriously because I was certain that my grandpa could lick a shark any day). But that's when I first realized just how close sharks can come (and intermingle) with us.

What are your shark stories?

11 comments:

Saur♥Kraut said...

*LOL* Thanks, VL. For those of you who haven't met VL yet, he is a new blogger that I just ran across. Check out his blog by clicking on his name.

Anonymous said...

A little boy I know loves to hang out in the shallow surf and scoop up fish in anything handy, a bucket, a net, his hands....

Recently on a local beach, he grabbed, with his hands, a appx 6-8 inch fish that was apparently too slow. It turned out to be a small shark. I wasn't there, but apparently a man who knows his marine life saw him messing with it and told him it'd be best to put it down. The shark was injured, so I suppose that's why it wasn't able to hurt the boy and why he was able to catch it.

Be careful out there!

Anonymous said...

Geez! I just read on MSN that a grizzly killed a couple in Alaska. They were on a rafting trip in the wilds. Set up camp and became the chefs special.

I am rethinking my vacation plans.

Dave said...

I’ll never forget the first time I went shark fishing. It really helped me understand how Mother Nature works. We caught a good size shark and proceeded to beat the stuffing out of it so we could keep the jaw. Unfortunately the motor on our Boston Whaler failed leaving us to the mercy of the mosquitoes. It was a painful night but we were blessed in the fact that the mosquitoes weren’t carrying bats.

Anonymous said...

Just on the news. Another shark attacked a 16 yr. old boy fishing. Sixty miles east of the first attack.

Wow. I am losing my desire for swimming in the Gulf.

Say a little prayer for that boy and his family.

Anonymous said...

Mr. Gator. Be glad. I hear the mosquitos in Alaska are serious batters.

Anonymous said...

I once went deep sea fishing with my boyfriend and we caught a nurse shark, by accident! It put up a hell of a fight. He cut it loose once he realized what it was (what did we want with a nurse shark?). Since then I found out that they make fake scallops out of shark meat. Yum! So I'm thinking, eat or be eaten.

Anonymous said...

Yi! I don't live in the U.S. but I'm glad I've never seen a shark! If I ever go to the beach, I'll stay on the land.

Ajay Shroff said...

i hope i never have a story to tell. i never recovered from 'jaws'.

Saur♥Kraut said...

Anonymous,
Scary story!

Kathleen,
Thanks for joining us, and contributing! Yeah, grizzlies aren't much better, huh? The wild isn't always a safe place, I guess. It makes me rethink camping. I hadn't heard about the 16 yr. old boy. Where was this attack?

Mr. Gator,

Yeah, sharks aren't easy to reel in! They fight well. I've eaten baby shark, they're very tender. And I guess I've probably eaten shark nuggets (the ones Bananarama mentioned).

Red Spice
*LOL*

Ajay and TC
Jaws WAS pretty scary, wasn't it???

Saur♥Kraut said...

Everyone,

La Bona's link didn't work. You can check out her blog on
http://divinetalk.blogspot.com/

I'm not necessarily endorsing it, but I welcome all opinions and will check it out myself.